Tigrigna Online - Lessons - Ch 1

click here if your computer can't read this: ሰላም

Subject Pronouns

Usage in English
Subject pronouns are used to substitute the names of the people or things that perform actions. Instead of saying: "John grabbed the keys"; you could say: "he grabbed the keys". Replacing "John" (a proper noun) with a pronoun ("he"). In English the subject pronouns are: 'He', 'She', 'They', 'You', 'We', and 'I'; these words are divided by person, number and gender; however there are a few exceptions.

Usage in Tigrigna
Subject pronouns are used in the exact same way as in English; however all subject pronouns are divided by person, number and gender (with no exceptions). So, you will see that Tigrigna sometimes will use a couple of words where there is only one English equvilent.

Singular Plural

3rd ንሱ he / it ንሶም they

ንሳ she ንሰን they (f)

2nd ንስኻ you (m) ንስኹም you

ንስኺ you (f) ንስኽን you (f)

1st ኣነ I ንሕና we

Here are some Tigrigna examples of subject pronouns with their English translations (the subject pronouns are underlined in each one):

ትግርኛ Transliteration Translation

a) "ንሱ ሐሰዩ" a) "he lied a) "He lied"

b) "ንሳ መጺኣ" b) "she came" b) "She came"

c) "ንስኻ ኪድ ርከቦ" c) "you go meet him" c) "You go and meet him"

d) "ንስኺ ምሳይ ምጺ" d) "you with me come" d) "You come with me"

e) "ኣነ ቡን ክሰቲ ተቀርበ እለኩ" e) "I coffee drink ready am" e) "I am going to drink coffee"

f) "ንሶም ምሳካ ይኪዱ" f) "they with you go" f) "They have to go with you"

g) "ንሰን በሊዐን" g) "they ate" g) "They ate"

h) "ንስኹም ከሹኑ" h) "you cook" h) "You must cook"

i) "ንስኽን ተመለሳ" i) "you return" i) "You must return"

j) "ንሕና ምሳኩም አለና" j) "we with you are" j) "We are with you"

Explaining grammar terms

1. Why do we call these words subject pronouns? A subject is a word that is 'committing the action.' In our two above examples:

'John grabbed the keys' and 'he grabbed the keys'

The words 'John' and 'he' are the ones that are committing an action (grabbing keys); this makes them the subjects of their sentences. In English, the subjects are always placed in the front of a sentence ([Subject] [Verb] [Object]). The same is true in Tigrigna, where the subjects are always placed in the front of a sentence ([Subject] [Object] [Verb]).

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. In our two above examples: 'John grabbed the keys' and 'he grabbed the keys.' The noun 'John' is replaced by the pronoun 'he.' In summery, What makes these words subjects is their role in the sentence; what makes them pronouns is the nature of their meaning.

2. While the terms: number and gender are probably familiar with you, person might not. It's just a way of organizing the subject in relation to the speaker.

First Person; example: I, We
These are used when the subject is the speaker himself. In English, "I" and "we" are the singular and plural form; there is no gender difference.

Second Person; example: You
This is used when the speaker is directly talking to the individual who is the subject. In English, there is no difference between singular, plural, male, or female.

Third Person; example: He, She, It, They
This is used when the speaker to referring to a subject that is outside the current conversation or communication. In English, "he," "she," and "it," are the singular form for: male, female, and objects (respectively). The word "they" is the sole plural form (no-matter of gender).